USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historical collections: containing I. The Reformation in France; the rise, progress and destruction of the Huguenot Church. Vol II > Part 2
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For this object, 3,000 acres of land was accordingly granted to John Winthrop, Junior, and his partners, February 19, 1643 (old style), of the common land of Braintree, for the commencement of the iron business. This John Winthrop, Junior, who was afterwards Governor of Connecticut, may be regarded as the father and founder of the iron business in America.
Mr. Savage, in his notes to Winthrop, remarks :
" Our colony records at the court, March 7, 1643-'44, contain at great length the orders on this subject."
Again :
"On the 13th of month month, following, very encouraging resolu- tions were passed by the court, of which notice was taken of the $1, 000 being already disbursed, and ended with the following:
" Mr. John Winthrop, Junior, is granted ye hill at Tantousque, about sixty miles westward, in which the black-lead is, and liberty to pur- chase some land of the Indians."*
* Sec Records of General Court, 1643 and 1614.
.
.Mr. John Winthrop is granted the hill at Tuntousque about 60 miles westward in which the Black Lead is, with liberty to purchase some land there of the Indians . 133 9" month, 1643-4. Winthrop , by savage. Vol: II.P: 213.
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STURBRIDGE.
This bears date, " November 13, 1644." This appears to be the first movement for the working of these lead mines, which were made known by John Oldham, by his discovery of black- lead with the interior Indians in this region, on his journey across the country to Connecticut river valley, in September, 1633 .*
John Winthrop was a gentleman of education and scientific attainments, and no person of his day evinced a more enter- prising spirit. He, no doubt, placed much value upon this grant of land that embraced this black-lead region.
Black-lead, plumbago, or graphite (by which three names this mineral is known), was then regarded in England as of great value.
The principal source for this material at that time was the Borrowdale mine, in a branch of the Cumberland mountains, in England, called the "Scatoller Fell," near the lakes, in the vicinity of Keyswick, the top of which mountain is 2,000 feet above the sea-level. This mineral was deemed of such value that special acts of Parliament were passed for its protection. The entrance to this mine was secured by strong buildings. The mineral when raised was assorted and prepared in the presence of a gnard of soldiers, with loaded muskets, to pre- vent its being stolen by the mountaineers.
At first, this mineral was found so pure, that it was capable of being worked into the finest pencils in the condition it came from the mine. It had, in time, to be prepared by sepa- rating the impurities, before good work could be made from it. This process is now effected by reducing the mineral to powder, then exhausting the air from it, and, by great pressure, to form it into solid blocks, from which slices are cut of the thickness desired for the size of the pencil to be made.
This process enables all parts of the mineral to be worked,
* See Winthrop by Savage, vol. II, p. 213-261, and vol. 1, 3, or 132.
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STURBRIDGE.
and increases the quantity for use to such extent, that it has cheapened very much articles of this manufacture.
At what time the explorations commenced for discovering the definite locality of this lead mine after the report of Mr. John Oldham on his exhibit of specimens of this lead at Bos- ton, in 1633, does not appear ; but, no doubt, the younger Winthrop, with his enterprise and knowledge of the great value of the lead mine in England, did not delay long in as- certaining its location and quality.
It is known that John Winthrop, Junior, visited England in 1634, and returned to New England in 1635, with a com- mission from the patentees of the Earl of Warwick charter, for commencing a colony at the mouth of Connecticut river, by building a fort and erecting houses preparatory to the set- tlement of a colony. This commission was executed in 1635, and the following year that locality received the name of Saybrook in honor of Lord Say and Seal, and Lord Brooke .*
* John Winthrop, eldest son of Governor John Winthrop, of Massachusetts, by his first wife, was born at Groton, in Suffolk, February 12, 1605. He received a liberal education at Cambridge university, and at Dublin, and came to New England with his father's family, November 4, 1631; was appointed a magistrate the same year, and returned to England in 1634, as above. His commission with the patentees was dated, " July 18, 1634," as " Gover- nor of Connecticut River for One Year." After this, he returned, and lived at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1638-'39; sailed again for England, August 3, 1641, and returned to New England in 1643; removed to Pequot (New London) in 1646, and became the principal founder of that ancient town, which had its name changed from Pequot to New London, in March, 1658, by the action of the General Assembly of that colony, as follows:
" This court, considering that there hath yet no place in any of the colonies been named in memory of the city of London, there being a new plantation within this jurisdiction of Connecticut, settled upon the fair river Mohegan, in the Pequot country, being an excellent harbor and a fit and convenient place for future trade, it be also the only place which the English in these parts have possessed by conquest, and that upon a very just war, upon that great and warlike people, the Pequots, that, therefore, they might thereby leave to pos- terity the memory of that renowned city of London, from whenee we had our transporta- tion, have thought fit, in honor to that famous city, to call the said plantation New London."
He was elected a magistrate in Connecticut, in 1651, and continued in that offiee until 1657, when he was elected governor, and appointed their agent for visiting England to solicit a charter for the same. He sailed for England in 1661, and returned in 1663, with a charter bearing date, " April 20, 1662," arriving in America the 15th of May. This charter embraced the colony of New Haven, thus including all the present territory of what is now the State of Connecticut, which, at the first planting, was divided into three separate colonies; Con- necticut, Saybrook, and New Haven. Mr Winthrop was now continued governor of the colony till 1675; seventeen years.
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Having returned to England in 1641, he again came to New England in 1643, with a preparation for founding iron works, and for mining ; no doubt, as early as 1643, he ex- plored and discovered this black-lead mine. His obtaining a large grant of the hilly and broken country around the same is evidence of his expectation that black-lead and other min- erals had deposits of value in that vicinity, especially iron, as it was contemplated at one time that iron works would be es- tablished there. But Mr. Winthrop soon after commenced his plantation at New London, about 1646, and after that made Connecticut his residence.
He soon became much interested in the political affairs of that colony, while his time was also much occupied in advanc- ing the iron manufacture ; yet there is ample evidence that he kept in mind this mineral region now in Sturbridge, which, at this time, was known as "Tantonsque," as the following letters will prove :
FIRST LETTER.
"SPRINGFIELD, 8th month, 1644. " To My Loving Friend, Stephen Day,*
" Tantouspue in Nipnet :
" I received a letter from you by an Indian, who saith his name is Ta-mug-gut. I spake to this Indian in your behalf. I told him that the governor sent you to search for something in the ground, not for black-lead, as they supposed, but for some other mineral. I told him that the hill of black-lead by Quassuck was not so good as that which lay southward of it, near the corn-field, where one Namaswhat lives. I suppose it is five or six miles south of that place by Quassuck.
" (Signed) " WILLIAM PYNCHON. "Indorsed by John Winthrop, Junior."
By the reference to the black-lead mines in the foregoing letter, it is evident these mines had been discovered at an ear-
Ile was admitted a member of the Royal society in London, in 1662, and was elected a Commissioner of Connecticut for the Confederation of the United Colonies of New England, and died at Boston, when there to attend a meeting of that board, April 5, 1676.
* This Steven Day was the first printer in America, and one of the founders of Lancaster, the first town formed in the territory of Worcester county
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lier date, and that there were two places in which the min- eral had been found, one better than the other ; and as only one of them has ever been known to be worked, it is evident that the other was deemed of too poor quality to be an object to work it.
This tract of country was well known and was thoroughly examined as early as the year 1643 or 1644, which is nearly a century before Sturbridge received its incorporation as a town.
To realize the antiquity of the knowledge of the existence of black-lead mines within the limits of what is now Stur- bridge, it must be borne in mind that John Oldham made his report of their existence only thirteen years after the land- ing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and but three years after the arrival of Governor Winthrop and his party to found the colony of Massachusetts ; and the grant of this tract of land to John Winthrop, Junior, was only about ten or eleven years later.
The second letter, connecting John Winthrop, Junior, with these mines, is as follows :
" BOSTON, 1st month, 29th, 1658. " To the Most Worshipful Mr. John Winthrop, " Governor of Connecticut :
" SIR-When Matthew Grissell comes into the black-lead mine, if he be willing still to dig it upon shares, and let us have his third, we will allow him as we do for yours; but forget not, it is so essential for en- couraging the work, namely, that the lead be kept together. Should he refuse that, to let us have his third, then let it rest as it is, and we shall continue our workmen, which have made entrance.
"If there should be any need of our speaking to Matthew Grissell, then advise him to come unto us from the works; it is but two days' journey to Boston. For the carriage of the lead to the water-side, Richard Fel- lows is very willing to engage, first by going a turn or two upon trial, and after to go upon more certain price.
" We conceive he is fitted for horses, and shall leave him for yourself
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for conclusion, which we desire you will hasten, conceiving it will do best to track the way before the weeds be grown too high.
" Yours to command,
" WILLIAM PAINE,
" Indorsed John Winthrop, Junior.
"TIIOMAS CLARK."*
The black-lead mine was called two days' journey from Boston. To do this by ordinary travel on horseback through the woods, without roads, we imagine must have been diffi- cult ; but to drive a loaded team, taking this mineral to Bos- ton, traveling through the forests, and passing the many water-courses and a hilly country without bridges or even roads, can hardly now be thought possible in these days of good roads and rapid conveyance.
·
By the contents of the foregoing letter of 1658 it is pre- sumed that this date may be taken as the time when these black-lead mines were first operated for procuring that mineral as a merchantable article, which, dating from 1872, is 214 years that said mines have now been worked.t (See Frederick Tudor's purchase below.) Although this grant of land to John Winthrop, Junior, was made by the General Court in the year 1644, it was not surveyed, giving definite bounds, till the year 1715, when it was laid out in a very irregular shape, some- thing in form like a triangle, with somewhat irregular lines on each of the three sides. (See plan procured for this work.)
* See Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, published letters of John Winthrop, Junior; also pub- lished records of the General Court of Massachusetts, under the old charter; and the Jour- nal of John Winthrop, now published by said society, and annotated by James Savage, Esq. These are the principal sources of these sketches concerning the early history of the lead mine in Sturbridge.
+ Frederick Tudor, Esq., of Boston, became the owner, by purchase, of the several pro- prietors of these mines, as follows :
November 18, 1828, F. Richir Dorr, Boston, to Frederick Tudor, of Boston,
$50.00-Undivided fourth part of lands in Sturbridge, the south-westerly side of Lead Mine Pond, containing the lead mines, recorded B. 266, p. 100, at Worcester.
September 17, 1829, E. Richir Dorr, Boston, to Frederick Tudor, of Boston,
$50.00-Three nudivided fourth parts of certain lands in Sturbridge, on southerly side of Lead Mine Pond, containing the lead mines, recorded B. 279, Worcester.
September 17, 1829, E. Richir Dorr, Boston, to Frederick Tudor, of Boston,
.
.
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It appears that a note had been given to the corporation by Mr. Tudor for the buildings, forge, etc., for mining purposes, he taking all the property of the company for $5, 746.63, on demand, and interest.
The foregoing facts were taken from the several deeds and papers, very courteously furnished to this writer for his ex- amination by the administrator upon the estate of Mr. Tudor, the Hon. Samuel E. Sewall, of Boston.
The plan of this irregular tract has an indorsement on its face as follows, which shows the lead mine to be in the ex- treme south-west part of the tract.
A map of 10,240 acres of land, being the contents of four square miles, laid out to John Winthrop, Esq., alias Wait Winthrop, Esq. Then follows :
"A true copy of the map and survey, according to the minutes thereof in my hands, by whom it was surveyed at first.
"JOHN CHANDLER, JUNIOR.
" WOODSTOCK, November 13, 1723."
$70.00-All my right in lands in Sturbridge, as set forth in deed from Lueinda Gibbs, Alfieda Gibbs, Cynthia Gibbs, Amanda Gibbs. Dyer Carpenter, and Martha Carpen- ter, lands sold Tudor & Dorr, July 29, 1828, four and three quarter acres.
$225.00-The same for all lands bought of Sorel Perrin and Huldah Perrin by deed, to Tudor and Dorr, December 24, 1828, twenty-nine acres.
$65.00-Also, a piece of land had of Rias Allan in said Sturbridge, May 9, 1828, seven aeres. recorded B. 263, p. 175, as above.
Decomber I, 1829, E. Richir Dorr, Boston, to Frederick Tudor, Boston,
$100.00-All right in lands conveyed by deed ; recorded last above, B. 263, p. 175: recorded B. 271, p. 388, as above.
December 24, 1828, Sorel or Asenat Perrin, and Huldah Perrin, Monson, to Frederick Tudor, of Boston,
Forty-eight aeres and seven rods for $375.00; recorded B. 266, p. 99, as above.
December 24, 1828, Sorel or Asenat Perrin, Monson, to Frederick Tudor, Boston,
Twenty-nine acres for #225.00; recorded D. 266, p. 99, as above.
May 28, 1833, Frederick Tudor, Boston, to Ixion Black-Lead Factory,
All the forementioned lots of land, and the lead mines, for $10.00; recorded B. 293, p. I21, as above.
July 10, 1839, the Ixion Black-Lead Factory, a corporation duly established by law in Boston, at a legal meeting, July 10, 1839, voted, authorizing their agent, James W. Fenno, to sell all its real estate in the county of Woreester, as by reference to the records of said corporation will appear, to Frederick Tudor, Esq., of Boston, with all the mines, rights, and appurtenances thereto belonging; consideration. $1.00; recorded B. 345, p. 389, as above.
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This was the survey of 1715, which Colonel John Chandler represented as infringing upon the farm of Governor Salton- stall, as represented by his survey, by the order of court upon the first petition of the Medfield people. To remedy this, the 10,240 was relaid out in a square form, four miles in extent, with a plan accordingly, and reads as follows :
"A plan of 10,240 acres, resurveyed for the late Hon. Major-General Winthrop, deceased,
"JOHN CHANDLER, JUNIOR. " Secretary." " June 7, 1728.
The Winthrop tract covered all that part of the Quinebang river, beginning at the east, about opposite Sturbridge Center . Village, and extending west into Brimfield.
The subsequent disposition of these lands by the Winthrop heirs has not been ascertained.
See lithographie plan of this first survey, annexed for ex- planation of this grant of John Winthrop, Junior.
"SECOND PETITION
" BY SOME INHABITANTS OF MEDFIELD, FOR A GRANT OF THE PROVINCE LAND BETWEEN OXFORD, BRIMFIELD, AND BROOKFIELD.
" To the Honorable William Dummer, Esq., Lieutenant-Gorernor and Com- mander-in-Chief, the Honorable Council, and the Honorable House of Representatives of His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, in General Court Assembled, November 22, 1727:
"The petition of several of the inhabitants of Medfield, and sundry others,
"HUMBLY SHOWETHE-
" That several of your petitioners some time since preferred a petition to this honorable Court, praying that a tract of land lying between Ox- ford, Brookfield, and Brimfield, and the Province line, might be granted to them, to erect a town and settle thereon, and this honorable Court so far favored their request, as to direct Colonel Chandler to view and sur- vey said tract of land, which survey he accordingly attended to, and made report, that the said tract of land was not sufficient for a town- ship, unless some of the adjacent lands were thereunto annexed.
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"And forasmuch as your petitioners have received encouragement from some of the proprietors of the 10,000 acres lately sold by the province, that they are desirous of being set off to said tract, which being so done will make a sufficient township.
" Therefore, your petitioners most humbly pray your Honor's considera- tion of the premises, and that this great and honorable Court would be pleased to grant or sell unto them the said tract of land, under such conditions and limitations as your Honor, in your great wisdom, shall deem best.
"And your petitioners in duty bound shall ever pray.
"Signed as follows :
" Abraham Harding, John Dwight,
Moses Gleason,
Joseph Plimpton,
Thomas Streeter,
Gersham Keys,
Jonathan Boydon,
Thomas Gleason, Jonas Houghton,
Silas Brown, Joshua Morse, William Plimpton,
Ebenezer Learned,
Nathaniel Smith,
Zerubbabel Eager,
Josiah Ellis, Francis Moquit, John Sherman,
Ichabod Harding,
Timothy Hammond, Nathan Ward,
Nathaniel Morse,
Solomon Clark, Ezra Clark.
Peter Balch,
Ephraim Partridge, Joseph Baker.
"In the House of Representatives, June 13, 1728, read and ordered that the petition be referred to the next full session, and in the mean time Colonel Thaxter, Major Tileston, and Major Chandler be a committee to repair to the land petitioned for and described in the within plan, that they view and well consider the nature and circumstances of said land, and report their opinion what the land may be worth at said session.
"' Sent up for concurrence.
" WILLIAM DUDLEY, Speaker.
"In Council, June 14, 1728, read and concurred.
"J. WILLARD, Secretary."*
REPORT OF COLONEL THAXTER, MAJOR TILESTON, AND MAJOR CILANDLER.
This committee, having visited and examined the lands prayed for in the second petition, made report to the General Court that said lands were worth £1,000.
The action of the General Court upon the foregoing, for some reason which has not been ascertained, was unfavorable, but the probability is that there was not a sufficient quantity
+ See vol. II. p. 727, Book of Towns. State Records. Boston.
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of good land to encourage inhabitants enough to settle upon them to be able to carry on the affairs of a town. But these petitioners believed otherwise, and presented a third petition to the court, viz. :
THIRD PETITION.
It is set forth, after the preface to the petition, that
" Your petitioners humbly beg leave to inform this Honorable Court that, although there is indeed much poor land contained therein, yet there is also a considerable quantity of good land fit for settlement ; and, in our humble opinion, a sufficiency to enable your petitioners, by the blessing of God, in concurrence with diligence and industry, to support the ordinary charges of a township."
This third petition contained names as follows :
Melatiah Bourn, Esq., Thomas Learned,
Nahum Ward,
William Ward, Esq., Nathan Fiske,
Gersham Keyes,
Ezra Bourn,
Henry Fiske, Zerubbabel Eager,
Shuball Goram,
Capt. Ebenezer Learned, John Sherman,
Joseph Baker, Samuel Ellis,
Jonas Ilaughton, David Ellis,
Jonas Gleason, Josiah Cheney,
Timothy Hamant,
Francis Moquet.
Capt. John Dwight,
William Plimpton, llenry Adams,
Capt. Joseph Clark,
Ephraim Partridge,
Ichabod Harding.
Nathaniel Morse.
Abraham Harding,
John Plimpton,
James Denison,
Moses Harding, Thomas Gleason, Joseph Marsh,
Josiah Ellis,
Joshua Morse, Capt. Jonathan Boyden,
Peter Balch, Joseph Plimpton,
Solomon Clark,
Ezra Clark. Nathaniel Smith.
Moses Gleason.
This petition came up in the General Court, July 4, 1729, viz .:*
"A petition of William Ward, Esq., and Joshua Morse, in behalf of themselves and about forty others, inhabitants of Medfield, etc., setting forth that, whereas, they had petitioned this court for a grant of land lying between Oxford, Brookfield, and Brimfield, and the Province line, the court was pleased to appoint a committee to value the same; that the said committee reported their opinion that the said lands are worth $1,000, and that forasmuch as many of the petitioners
* See Court Records, vol. XIV, p. 254.
. 2A
.
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are destitute of settlements and unable to purchase where land is scarce and dear. Therefore praying that this court would encourage the settle- ment of the said land, and assign such a purchase-consideration, as in their justice and wisdom they shall judge meet.
"In the House of Representatives read and voted that the prayer of the petition be granted, and the petitioners and their associates, their heirs and assigns shall have and enjoy the land petitioned for accord- ingly ; and for the effectual completing and settlement of the said lands, that they be hereby obliged in seven years' time from this date to settle, and to have actually on the spot fifty families, each of which to build a house of eighteen feet square at least, to break up and bring to fit for plowing and mowing ; and what is not fit for plowing, to be well stocked with English grass, seven acres of land: to settle a learned orthodox minister and lay out to him a house lot, equal to the other house lots, which house lot shall draw a fiftieth part of the Province land now granted, and to be accounted as one of the fifty that shall be settled. That no person who shall go on and bring forward a settlement in said place shall presume to sell, alienate, or dispose of his lot or right or any part thereof until he has filled and complied with the articles aforesaid, on penalty of forfeiting the same to the Province; provided, that if any person before the expiration of the said seven years shall have complied with the afore- said terms he may not sell his interest but to such persons as will actually dwell thereon till said term of seven years be fully expired. And for the better ordering and regulating the plantation, that Mr. Joshua Morse be empowered and directed to assemble the grantees, who shall act as a moderator, and as soon as so assembled they shall be em- powered to choose a clerk, who shall be empowered to enter all votes and orders of the society, and at such meeting shall agree in what way and manner their meetings shall be called for the future, and also a committee for surveying and ordering the affairs of the plantation which committee shall be annually chosen ; and that the society have power to raise money for defraying the charges arising among them, which charge shall be assessed and levied on the lands by said commit- tee, and collected by some suitable person chosen for that end, and under his oath, who shall make up his account with said committee once in a year, at least.
"In council ; read and non concurred."
Thins it appears that the petitioners failed in their efforts, at first, on this.third petition ; although the petition was granted by the action of the house, the council, for some reason not explained by the record, interposed their objection by a non- concurrence.
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STURBRIDGE.
The petition was, however, brought up in the session of the General Court, Wednesday, September 3, 1729, viz .:
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